Does the Fine Tuning of the Universe Prove the Existence of God?

Ok, folks.  I’ve started my next reading project.  This time it will not be a book of scholarship as we had with Raymond Brown’s work but a review of a popular conservative Christian book on apologetics:  Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh and Sean McDowell.

I skipped the Foreword and Introduction because they are essentially an “altar call”, explaining why the authors believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, etc..  I was an evangelical myself so I know all about the evangelical born again experience and world view.  I wanted to get to the “meat” of the book, so I will start with the Prologue:  A Theistic Universe.

One of the most remarkable scientific findings of the twentieth century is the delicate fine-tuning of the laws that govern the universe, which enable the emergence and sustenance of intelligent life.  Like the scientific confirmation of the beginning of the universe [the Big Bang], fine-tuning poses a significant challenge to naturalism.

–J. and S. McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. lxvi

Gary:  The apparent fine-tuning of the universe has always appeared to me as good evidence for the existence of an Intelligent Designer(s).  It is probably the biggest reason why I still refer to myself as an “agnostic” and not an “atheist”.  But one of the great things about the current time period of history in which we live is the easy accessibility of information.  Do a quick google search on this topic and one can quickly find arguments that deflate the importance of this issue.  Thirty years ago, prior to the Internet, I would have simply accepted this “obvious” evidence for the probable existence of God and moved on.  I would not have bothered spending hours or days going to a major library to investigate this issue.

So think about this:  Many modern scientists believe that we should not speak of “a universe” as if there is only one, but of “multiverses” as if there are probably many universes, possibly an infinite number of universes!  And if an infinite number of universes exist, it should surprise no one that one of those universes contains the conditions necessary for life as we know it.